2 Samuel 13:6

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and ¹make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand."

2 Samuel 13:6 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 13:6

So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick
Took the advice of his cousin Jonadab, and acted according to it:

and when the king was come to see him;
as he quickly did, after he had heard of his illness:

Amnon said unto the king;
who perhaps inquired of his appetite, whether he could eat anything, and what:

I pray thee let my sister Tamar come;
he calls her sister, as Jonadab had directed, the more to blind his design; though it is much that so sagacious a man as David was had not seen through it; but the notion he had of his being really ill, and the near relation between him and Tamar, forbad his entertaining the least suspicion of that kind:

and make me a couple of cakes in my sight;
heart cakes, as the word may be thought to signify; called so either from the form of them, such as We have with us, or from the effect of them, comforting and refreshing the heart:

that I may eat at her hand;
both what is made by her hand, and received from it.

2 Samuel 13:6 In-Context

4 And he said to him, "O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."

5 Jonadab said to him, "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, 'Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.'"

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, "Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand."

7 Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, "Go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare food for him."

8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house, where he was lying down. And she took dough and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and baked the cakes.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 18:6